Wet wipes are typically pre-moistened, disposable towelettes which may be utilised in a variety of applications both domestic and industrial and perform a variety of functions. Wet wipes are typically used to wipe inanimate surfaces, and may provide numerous benefits such as cleaning, cleansing, and disinfecting.
One particular application for wet wipes is wiping and/or cleaning surfaces and the application of compositions to surfaces, for example kitchen and bathroom surfaces, spectacles, shoes and surfaces which require cleaning in industry, for example surfaces of machinery or vehicles.
Wet wipes are commonly constructed from webs of combinations of synthetic, man-made and natural fibres, such as polyolefin fibres, viscose fibres, cotton fibres, which are generally moistened with an aqueous composition which may contain amongst others ingredients surfactants, preservatives, oils and scents depending on the end use envisaged.
A variety of webs and liquid compositions suitable for application to such webs are known and disclosed in the art listed below. Typically the webs require a binder in order to provide strength to the web, in particular when wet.
WO 89/05114 discloses disposable wipes for hard surface cleaning which are impregnated with a liquid composition and EP 0 211 773 discloses a cloth for polishing a car. EP 0 113 254 discloses an antimicrobial non-woven fabric. The fabric may be provided from natural or synthetic fibres or blends thereof. According to the disclosed invention an antimicrobial agent is selected which forms a colloidal suspension with a given conventional binder.
EP 0 233 943 discloses a non-woven wet wipe which is said to be antimicrobially active. In a preferred embodiment the web for the wet wipes is provided from wood pulp and comprises a non-acrylate binder (ethylene vinyl acetate). The wet wipes further comprise an antimicrobial agent, which is mixed into the binder and applied to the non-woven web therewith.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,888,524 discloses an antimicrobial composition for use with conventional wet wipes and lotions. The wet wipes can be provided from synthetic or natural fibres or a combination thereof. According to the disclosed invention the wet wipes are saturated with a rather high amount of the antimicrobial composition, indeed, it is taught that the weight of the lotion should be up to 6 times the weight of the dry wipe.
Traditionally, hard surface cleaning wipes have been made using synthetic fibres since only synthetic fibres provide sufficient strength in the wipe for it to withstand the stress and strain of the cleaning action. Wipes made using natural and/or synthetic fibres have generally been much weaker in terms of tensile strength and have required the use of a binder or wet strength agent to increase the tensile strength to a level suitable to withstand the cleaning action. EP 0 602 881 discloses a wet wipe comprising wood pulp and man-made fibres made preferably for use in personal hygiene, for example as moist toilet paper. The wipes also comprise a wet strength agent, for example polyacrylamide, to improve the wet strength of the wipe.
Synthetic wipes and those wipes comprising a binder suffer the disadvantage of being less biodegradable than wipes made using natural fibres, to the point where they are not suitable for flushing down a lavatory since they may cause blockages in drains and/or septic tanks. It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a wet wipe that is sufficiently strong to be suitable for cleaning hard surfaces, but which is also sufficiently biodegradable such that it can be safely flushed down a lavatory.
A further object of the present invention has been to find a wet wipe substrate that is suitable for flushing down a lavatory but which can also sustain a high cleaning composition loading factor without adversely affecting either the tensile strength or absorbency of the wipe.